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In football, there is the saying that “speed kills” – as a result, at the NFL Combine each year, one of the most closely tracked metrics is the 40-yard dash, even though its ability to predict greatness at the next level is at best murky. Nevertheless, at the running back position, the 2008 NFL Draft saw the arrival of two of the fastest running backs ever in Jamaal Charles and Chris Johnson, with Johnson at one point running the fastest 40-yard time ever. With their blazing speed, both backs were multi-purpose weapons and among the game’s most productive offensive players at their respective peaks (and consensus first-round fantasy draft picks) – their similar styles of play and levels of production thus raises the question:
Who was better – Jamaal Charles or Chris Johnson?
The Beginning
Interestingly, even though Charles attended a blue-blood college program while Johnson starred at a mid-major, it was the latter who ended up being a first-round draft pick and had the more immediate impact and the former who went in the middle rounds and was initially a backup.
A Texas native, Charles overcame learning disabilities as a child to become a high school star in both football and track and field – on the gridiron, he rushed for 2,000+ yards in both his junior and senior years (earning the Willie Ray Smith Award both years as the offensive MVP in southeast Texas) and was named a Parade All-American as a senior. From there, he took his talents to the University of Texas and as a true freshman, was part of the national championship team that beat USC in the Rose Bowl in 2005; following a somewhat lackluster sophomore campaign with the Longhorns, Charles exploded to the tune of 1,619 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior, which led him to declare early for the NFL. Subsequently, he was selected 73rd overall in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and had a relatively quiet rookie season backing up Larry Johnson – Charles ran for 357 yards and added 27 receptions for 272 yards and a touchdown.
While growing up in Florida, Johnson likewise excelled in both football and track and field, though was not considered a blue-chip football recruit, thus leading him to East Carolina University for his college ball. Overall, he had a good, but not necessarily great four-year career with the Pirates, culminating in a senior season in which he rushed for 1,423 yards and 17 touchdowns while adding 37 catches for 528 yards and 6 touchdowns through the air. Expected to be a mid-round draft pick, Johnson shocked scouts by running the 40-yard dash in a then NFL Combine-record 4.24 seconds, which resulted in the Tennessee Titans drafting him with the 24th overall pick in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he immediately became the team’s starting running back and rushed for 1,22 yards and 9 touchdowns while adding 43 receptions for 260 yards and a touchdown to earn Pro Bowl honors.
Career Comparison
At their very best, Charles and Johnson each produced otherworldly seasons and set season/career records at the running back position, though the wear and tear at the position ultimately wore down both players in their early 30s.
As a second-year player in 2009, Charles became the lead back midway through the season after Kansas City released the aforementioned Larry Johnson, and proceeded to rush for 1,120 yards and 7 touchdowns on a league-best 5.9 yards per attempt, while adding 40 receptions for 297 yards and a touchdown. The next year, as the undisputed starting running back, he earned the first of four Pro Bowl selections and was named a First Team All-Pro on the strength of 1,467 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns (a staggering 6.4 yards per attempt) plus 45 catches for 468 yards and 3 touchdowns. However, in 2011, Charles suffered an ACL injury in the second game of the season and missed the remainder of the season; nevertheless, he quickly bounced back in 2012 with a career-high 1,509 rushing yards (5.3 yards per attempt) with 5 touchdowns, along with 35 catches for 236 yards and a touchdown, to again earn Pro Bowl honors while making the All-Pro Second Team.
In 2013, Charles had arguably his best all-around season and was essentially the Chiefs’ offense: with 1,287 rushing yards and a league-high 12 rushing touchdowns plus a career-best 70 receptions for 693 yards and 7 touchdowns (including an absurd five-touchdown game late in the season vs. the division rival Oakland Raiders), he led the team in both rushing and receiving en route to another Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro year. A final Pro Bowl season followed in 2014: 1,033 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns with 40 receptions for 291 yards and 5 touchdowns. Unfortunately, major injury struck once again when Charles tore his ACL in the fifth game of the 2015 season and missed the rest of the year; he never fully recovered, only playing three more games in a Chiefs uniform in 2016 before being released. For the 2017 season, he signed with the rival Denver Broncos and rushed for 296 yards while splitting the backfield; a year later, he joined the Jacksonville Jaguars, but only appeared in two games and rushed for a grand total of 7 yards. Having played his last NFL game at age 32, Charles signed a one-day contract to retire with Kansas City in 2019 – his career 5.4 yards per carry is the highest among running backs in league history, even ahead of the legendary Jim Brown (#2 at 5.2 yards per attempt).
Johnson likewise broke out in a big way in 2009 – he led the NFL with 358 rushing attempts for 2,006 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns along with 50 receptions for 503 yards and 2 touchdowns to earn Pro Bowl, All-Pro, and Offensive Player of the Year honors; moreover, he earned the CJ2K nickname by becoming just the sixth player in league history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season (after O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis, and Jamal Lewis; Adrian Peterson and Derrick Henry have since joined the club) and his 2,509 yards from scrimmage broke Marshall Faulk’s previous record of 2,429 yards set in 1999 and remains the modern-day single-season record. As an encore, Johnson had a third straight Pro Bowl season with 1,364 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, plus 44 catches for 245 yards and a touchdown.
Over the next few years, Johnson was a consistent 1,000 yard back – despite dropping to 1,047 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns in 2011, he added a career-high 57 catches for 418 yards; the next year, he rebounded to 1,243 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns with 36 catches for 232 yards. 2013 would be his last 1,000-yard season (1,077 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns; 42 receptions for 345 yards and a career-high 4 touchdowns). After being released ahead of the 2014 season, Johnson signed with the New York Jets, but could only muster a career-low 633 rushing yards; he was on the move after one season in New York and joined the Arizona Cardinals. In 2015, he was having a strong bounce-back campaign before a fractured tibia ended his season – in 11 games, Johnson rushed for 814 yards and 3 touchdowns. However, across the 2016 and 2017 seasons, he only played in eight total games with the Cardinals and managed just 209 total yards with a lone touchdown; post his last NFL game in 2017 at 32, Johnson announced his retirement in 2018 and officially signed a one-day contract in 2019 to retire as a Titan.
Though both players came into the league in the same year and Charles retired one year later, Johnson actually played 11 more regular season games due to better health and thus accumulated more rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns; on the other hand, as mentioned, Charles has the best yards per attempt ever and was also a superior receiver out of the backfield. On a season-by-season basis, Johnson rushed for 1,000+ yards more often (6x vs. 5x) and also scored double-digit touchdowns in more seasons (4 to 2); however, Charles actually made more Pro Bowls (4x vs. 3x) and earned more All-Pro selections (2 to 1), though Johnson does have the Offensive Player of the Year award from his record-setting 2009 season. Moreover, when you look at production on a per-game basis, it is once again mixed – Johnson averaged 91 total yards (74 rushing, 2.4 receptions for 17 receiving yards) and 0.49 touchdowns per game across 130 regular season games vs. 85 total yards (64 rushing, 2.6 receptions for 21 receiving yards) and 0.54 touchdowns per game across 119 regular season games for Charles. With both running backs retiring in recent memory, each poses an interesting Hall of Fame question in terms of peak production vs. longevity.
Regular Season Statistics
| Jamaal Charles | Player | Chris Johnson |
| 11 (2008-2018) | Seasons | 10 (2008-2017) |
| 119 | Games Played | 130 |
| 1,407 | Rushing Attempts | 2,163 |
| 7,563 | Rushing Yards | 9,651 |
| 5.4 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.5 |
| 44 | Rushing Touchdowns | 55 |
| 310 | Receptions | 307 |
| 2,593 | Receiving Yards | 2,255 |
| 20 | Receiving Touchdowns | 9 |
| 4x | Pro Bowls | 3x |
| 2x | All-Pro | 1x |
| – | MVP | – |
| – | Super Bowls | – |
| – | Other Awards | 1x Offensive POY |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Despite lofty regular season numbers, Charles and Johnson both had limited postseason exposure and neither player managed to carry their respective team to a single playoff win.
Charles was twice a postseason participant with the Chiefs – first, in 2010, he rushed 9 times for 82 yards and a touchdown, while adding one catch for 15 yards, in a 30-7 Wild Card loss to the Baltimore Ravens and their stifling defense led by the likes of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. Three years later, he was knocked out in the first quarter of a shootout 45-44 loss during Wild Card Weekend to the Indianapolis Colts, having rushed three times for 18 yards.
As for Johnson, his lone playoff game came as a rookie in 2008 – in a 13-10 Divisional loss to the Ravens, he rushed 11 times for 72 yards with one catch for 28 yards and scored Tennessee’s only touchdown.
Playoff Statistics
| Jamaal Charles | Player | Chris Johnson |
| 2 | Games Played | 1 |
| 12 | Rushing Attempts | 11 |
| 100 | Rushing Yards | 72 |
| 8.3 | Yards Per Attempt | 6.5 |
| 1 | Rushing Touchdowns | 1 |
| 1 | Receptions | 1 |
| 15 | Receiving Yards | 28 |
| – | Receiving Touchdowns | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Charles suffered a couple of significant injuries sandwiched between prime years of production, while Johnson hit the more traditional running back decline into his late 20s/early 30s. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams, though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years. However, given the shorter careers most running backs have due to the physical toll of the position (very few running backs are effective after age 30), I have modified it in this comparison to a “(half)-decade of dominance”.
(Half)-Decade of Dominance
| Jamaal Charles | Player | Chris Johnson |
| 2009-2010, 2012-2014 | (Half)-Decade of Dominance | 2008-2012 |
| 77 | Games Played | 79 |
| 1,170 | Rushing Attempts | 1,463 |
| 6,416 | Rushing Yards | 6,888 |
| 5.5 | Yards Per Attempt | 4.7 |
| 38 | Rushing Touchdowns | 44 |
| 230 | Receptions | 230 |
| 1,985 | Receiving Yards | 1,658 |
| 17 | Receiving Touchdowns | 4 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
When you only look at each back’s five best seasons, the story becomes quite interesting – the duo are nearly neck-and-neck in total yardage (more rushing yards for Johnson, more receiving yards for Charles), with Charles scoring more touchdowns; this comparison points to Charles being more dominant in his peak, but Johnson ultimately having the more productive overall career due to better durability.
My Thoughts
For about a half-decade between 2009 and 2014, Jamaal Charles and Chris Johnson were among the most explosive offensive weapons in the NFL, with the ability to create big plays and score touchdowns either on the ground or through the air with their blazing speed. Between the two, if you look at a combination of peak seasons vs. overall longevity/production, I think both metrics favor Johnson slightly – not only is his 2009 season one of the great individual offensive seasons ever, but he was less prone to major injuries and thus, more consistently productive on a year-to-year basis for a little bit longer than Charles. This brings about another question: between Charles’ all-time yards per carry record and Johnson’s 2000-yard season, is either running back a Hall of Famer? In my book, I think both fall just short – while Charles’ efficiency is unmatched, his overall longevity/production is lacking, as no modern-day running back with fewer than his 7,563 career rushing yards is in Canton (the closest is Terrell Davis with 7,607 career rushing yards over seven seasons, but he was a controversial pick even with a 2,000-yard season, an MVP award, and two Super Bowls on his resume). As for Johnson, while his peak was unprecedented, I think likewise he is lacking in the overall career production with fewer than 10,000 career rushing yards – there are a number of similar running backs with 10,000+ yards not in the Hall of Fame, e.g. Fred Taylor, Steven Jackson, Corey Dillon, Ricky Watters, Jamal Lewis, Thomas Jones, Tiki Barber, and even another Titans great in Eddie George, just to name a few. Ultimately, both Charles and Johnson are “Hall of Very Good” players, with Johnson a notch above.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Chris Johnson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
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